Chapter 5

Scratching his head Omar looked at the paper in front of him.

"This ritual magic thing, it is pretty complicated stuff." Omar said as he looked at the drawing in front of him.

"Well, it should well be. Ritual magic is not something just anyone can create or understand, especially the larger and more complex ones." Astrid said with a puffed-out her non-existent chest full of pride. "Well, it is like that as long as one isn't a genius like me, that is. I mastered ritual magic in just a few short months, the shortest time someone took in mastering those in a long while."

Omar nodded, impressed.

"Can you explain this part for me?" Omar questions. "It says here water and then follows with the symbols of energy, catalysis, and then energy again before returning to water but in a different language. Why exactly was it done this way?"

"Oh, that is because the first symbol of water represents flowing the energy and it is done in the same language and close to the symbol of 'energy' as to draw in the energy. It then is transformed and moved along by the next two symbols with the final 'water' symbol being in a different language as to help lead the energy in only a single way since the 'water' symbol is very fluid and without ways to direct the energy in a single direction the power would be too stable in place to be of any use. Ritual circles exist precisely to better direct the energy of several sources to launch a single result instead of multiple results." Astrid explained, making Omar nod.

"I understand it... kinda. This magic stuff is pretty complicated, but it is still quite fun." Omar said as he tried to decipher ritual magic.

Astrid looked on and let her head rest in her hand as she looked at her student, his actions of trying to learn more reminding her of herself in some ways as she was just as dedicated to studying as he was.

As she watched she noted a small mistake and didn't say anything, just pointed it with her finger.

"Oh, thanks." He said as he realized his mistake and started fixing it.

It was a usual routine at this point. Omar was a quick learner and she was glad to help, even if...

"It is good that you know this, but, aren't you pushing yourself a bit too much? It doesn't seem like you have been resting much these days." Astrid says and Omar shrugs.

"It has been a bit hectic and I still have too much to do and too many things to learn. There is also the slaves and the Mirage Fox tribe that have just finished their village in the surroundings, we have too much to do in too many areas and-"

"You need to rest." Astrid said as she was getting tired just from hearing Omar speak of just some of his work, she had also been working hard as she helped build many of the buildings that the demihumans were using, but she knew that Omar has worked just as hard in multiple areas and she couldn't even remember the last time, if any, she saw him actually relax or go to sleep.

There was even talk amongst the maids about how, since his parents left, no one has seen him taking any sort of actual break. No naps, no play, and no sleep. Whenever one finds him, he was always working on something one way or another for a month and a half now.

"I don't have time for taking a break and rest right now. I have too many things to worry about and I need to be the one to take care of them." Omar said as he finished taking some more notes. "We still need to figure out a working ritual magic that can call or repel rain, with it our future productivity of grain would rise and we can find and obtain more people for this land."

Astrid nodded her head. She didn't really understand much of anything in regards to administration seeing as she grew up and was raised as a genius magician, but what Omar said sounded important.

"I get it, trust me I do, but shouldn't you take just a short break?"

"I am good, thanks." Omar said with a shrug before standing up. "Teacher, it seems like my time is up. Gotta get going, I have to go to the training grounds now to practice my martial arts. Can you help Nine with his reading meanwhile?"

Nine, the blue-haired werewolf that became something of an assistant in training for Omar, waved in a friendly manner at Astrid who acquiesced.

"Fine, just promise me you will... and you are gone. Great, just great." Astrid said in irritation as the kid ran off. "Don't go counting on me when you pass out from exhaustion, you dumb disciple!"

Nine just looks a bit worried before taking out a pen and the notebook given to him by Omar and writing them down in it.

'Is the Lord with some problem?'

Astrid huffs before shrugging.

"Honestly? No idea, I have never seen him just going to sleep or resting, but he is always full of energy anyway. I don't know how his body works at all, I just worry a bit, that is all."

///---///

After finishing his magic lessons for the day Omar went straight to the training grounds.

Concentrating, Omar summoned out the first flame he wanted to practice with. He knows that using the ring would make this simpler, but if he could master the powers without the assistance of the rings it should have a better final result in control and output.

The Earth Fire is one of the earth's attribute flames and it has the ability to control gravity. If he mastered it well enough he could do things similar to the telekinesis that Jean Grey can do or do gravity tricks like Fujitora and the like. Just imagining himself going all 'Shinra Tensei' was fun for Omar, but, for that, he would need a whole lot more control in regards to his flames.

Truly, these 15 flames, if he masters them, he doubts many would be his enemy. There are simply too many great possibilities with their usages and many possible combinations if he uses the Sky Flame to fuse them, after all.

"Let's continue from last time." Omar said after he stabilized the Earth Flame in his hand. He looked around and found a small rock around 20 meters in front of him, it was just a bit over the size of his hand.

With flame in hand, he started first by moving the rock up and down by increasing and lowering gravity on the rock in the distance.

CRACK

"Another failure." Omar said with a sigh as he accidentally put too much gravity in the rock and sent it to the ground too fast, breaking the rock into several pieces.

Without stopping, he continued doing practice with this flame for a good half an hour before he changed to the next flame he wanted to master. With a thought another flame surged in his hand, green sparkles appearing as the Thunder Flame surged.

The thunder flame has the attribute of hardening, it can toughen up other things embued with it as well as release thunder strikes. However, since he lacked a target now for releasing these thunder strikes he concentrated on the aspect of hardening instead.

Taking a small rock he began pulling thunder energy inside it, after a bit, he hit his rock into a larger rock.

BANG

The larger rock cracked under the smaller one impact, but a small crack appeared in the small rock.

Feeling dissatisfied Omar tried again with another rock, the result was better but when he tried again the smaller rock broke.

This second training continued for another half hour until Omar got mentally tired from this training.

He had infinite stamina, his body simply could never get tired and he could just do something menial that doesn't demand much from his body without a care. But, using these flames cost him some mental powers so he had to be careful not to absolutely exhaust himself during training.

So, going to another place, Omar began doing physical exercise.

"100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 killometers run. All that under enhanced gravity, of course." Omar said as he began moving.

He passed by some of the slaves and knights as he was running. The older guards Brian had called were doing a good job in helping train the slaves in the basics of fighting. There were some of these older knights that refused to help as they didn't want to train any 'filthy demihuman scum', but Omar didn't care and was just glad that there were still a good 30 that had returned to active duty as instructors.

Greeting each and every one of them by name as he passed Omar was glad of his perfect memory as he waved at each of them with a smile.

'I might not really care about many things, but seeing these guys healthier sure is nice.' Omar thought as he noted how many of these slaves, who before were skin and bones, sickly, and had no light in their eyes now seemed to have started recovery.

Stopping for a moment he saw a small girl he knew well by now. She had dark tan skin and platinum white hair, the ears and tails of a lion in her head as she glared at Omar.

As he saw her Omar smiled and took out a wooden sword he had strapped to his back as he intended to later go practice swordsmanship for a bit.

"It is a bit early, but how about some practice?"

"Grr, die!" The girl shouted as she threw herself at him, the sword he had given being used more as a club than an actual blade.

Omar didn't mind, just using his observation haki to avoid her strikes and exchange blows with her. In the distance, some of the slaves were looking at this interaction that has already become close to normal after the last week they spent here.

They could still remember it, the first time that this happened.

///---///

1 week previous

This was the first day after they had all been bought by this new lord. Everyone capable of moving and who was approved by the medical staff was taken to the training grounds.

They were all divided depending on their previous experience, age, and body condition. After that was done the head instructor spoke up.

"By our lord's command, every one of you will learn how to fight and defend yourselves. For those in talents in other areas or selected for other jobs, this time period is only two hours in the morning and one in the evening. This is to be done six days a week with the final one being a day for rest and... relaxation?" In the end, the head instructor actually had to read again to make sure he wasn't reading it wrong.

The slaves were also confused, but accepted these orders since a day to relax every week didn't sound half bad.

"For those who lack a specific job or talent for other areas, the period in between training will be spent with us either training you in some specific area that is considered suitable for you or hunting smaller monsters in the surroundings as to let everyone get used to combat in several forms, it also helps since hunting for wild animals and monsters means chefs can prepare delicious meals for us all. The night period will be for rest and relaxation for everyone, if anyone during this time desires to learn how to write or go to the library they can do it. At the end of each month, there will be a base payment with those that show particularly good results gaining a bonus. You can use the money you obtain to buy back your freedom as long as you have enough cash and have helped the Dukedom in some way. That is all."

As these words fell the slaves were skeptical. Sure, that is what the words of their new owner were, but these conditions were better than most armies would get. Normally armies were forced to train more as simply exterminating monsters to raise their levels and then be sent to war with whatever weapon was available, only the elites would be given proper instructors and conditions like those mentioned before.

That they were also promised pay at the end of each month, and that they could later use that money to buy back their freedom, it was almost like a fanciful dream.

It was at this time that they saw their new owner passing by. He ran past them with a sword in the back as he continued moving forward. The slaves that were in his way almost jumped out of it, but with how fast he was moving some couldn't dodge him, but he could evade them easily enough regardless.

"GRR! Die!" One of the slaves that he was passing by actually threw herself at him when he passed by her.

Due to being focused on running he didn't pay attention to his surroundings for such abrupt moves and was tackled to the ground by a girl no older than himself.

The knights, seeing this, quickly moved as the girl started to try and hit her owner without hesitation. The slave crest flashed and pain coursed through her entire body, but the girl didn't stop and continued to try and hit Omar regardless of the increasing pain that should debilitate even grown adults.

GRAB

"Little beast, how dare you to hit our lord?!" The first knight that got to her was an older man at around forty years old, he had fought for twenty years in the name of the Ducal family and his own family had been fighting and was loyal knights for over two hundred years now. They even got a title of baron from this and were easily one of the most loyal subjects of the Centurion family.

He was also the first one that was kicked out of his position as a knight by Omar's father as he was too much of an annoyance due to always being overly serious and pressuring him to do his job 'properly'. However, even then he was still steadfastly loyal to the Centurion house and was more than a little happy that the new Duke, despite being still far too young, reached out and asked for him to return.

With the slave girl who had tackled the young lord in his hands, he did not hesitate and was about to slap her for her insolence, when Omar himself stopped his arm.

"That is enough, lord Wackenheim." Omar said as he stood back up.

Seeing this the knight looks confused.

"My lord, why did you stop me from disciplining this girl? She attacked you unprovoked, and that is unacceptable."

Omar just shook his head and turned to the girl.

"Why did you do that?"

"You, bad person. You, took freedom. Kill you, get freedom back!" The girl said in a cut and badly spoken language. She was extremely thin and looked very fragile, but the ferocity in her expression and actions couldn't be denied.

Omar sighed at this and spoke up.

"Release her."

Lord Wackenheim, very reluctantly, did as ordered. However, he would stay and watch carefully, he wouldn't let this girl attack his lord just like that again.

As the girl got free she rubbed her wrist where she was held, growling at the lord that had held her.

Omar, seeing this, took out the sword he had in hand. The slaves watching thought he would proceed to attack the girl who had attacked him, however, he did the exact opposite and actually threw that sword at the girl.

The girl looked at the sword in her hand in doubt.

"What, this?"

"You wanted to strike me, right? Then come on, use this wood sword and try it. If you can defeat me I will free you, right here and now." Omar said seriously and the girl looks doubtful, but her expression steeled itself and she ran at him.

1 swing.

2 swings.

10 swings.

More and more she tried to strike him, and again and again, he avoided her strikes using his mutated observation haki.

Omar felt pleased by this situation. This girl was an ideal partner for him to train his observation haki, she wasn't much faster than him, and even if she hit her strikes wouldn't be able to give him any permanent injury. With the guards around, even if his haki failed there was little chance she could actually kill him anyway, so it was certainly an ideal training scenario for Omar.

They continued like that for a good while, her always striking and him always avoiding her attacks.

There were some glance hits at the start, but as time progressed he got more used to using his observation haki, it's mutated state made mastering it much easier to master and the grandmaster essence made sure he could master anything feasible for him in a much faster way than otherwise.

"HUFF, HUFF, DIE!" The girl shouted as she tried to attack again only for Omar to avoid once again and disarm her before pushing her lightly, making her fall down to the floor in exhaustion.

Shaking his head he spoke.

"Next time you try to 'assassinate' me, at least be sure you are not falling over from hunger. Eat well, drink well, rest well, and come again as much as you want until you are satisfied. Also, perhaps train a bit? I am offering great teachers in how to actually fight, not using it would be pretty stupid."

"GRRR! I will!" She wanted to shout, but her body got the best of her and she finally passed out.

Shrugging at this he took the girl and put her on his shoulders, the weight being a bit much but it would help him in his training as he wanted to raise his stats from training and exercise instead of just going out to hunt monsters.

Looking at everyone he raised a brow and spoke.

"Now, I am not paying everyone just so they can stop and admire me. Back to work, everyone." He said and involuntarily a trace of Conqueror's Haki spread, shocking the others due to the aura and making them obey quickly.

Count Wackenheim looked at this situation and smiled at the young lord showing promise before he followed along as the young Duke went to the infirmary to leave the girl there in case she needed actual medical care.

He couldn't, however, help but ask.

"My lord, how could that slave actually manage to hit you? Is the slave crest defective?"

"No, it is working normally. This girl simply has astounding determination if she can keep going to strike at me despite the pain her mark must be causing her. She is quite interesting, wouldn't you say?" Omar said, honestly impressed by the girl's determination as she could fight through the pain to get to her objective.

A shame that her objective was 'killing' him, but if he could direct such a person correctly she would become the fiercest of allies. Just look at White Beard and how he could make Ace, who tried to kill him several times, become one of his 'sons'. And none can doubt Ace's loyalty after White Beard earned it.

This is what Omar wanted from this unique girl.

"... I agree that her determination is commendable, few people I have ever met have this sort of determination." Wackeheim praised, it was truly quite the feat to be able to handle pain like this while so young. "However," Wackeheim countered. "Punishment should still be done considering what she tried to do. A good seedling or not, she tried to strike at the lord just like that, an example should be made as to not encourage others to try again." The count said and Omar sighed, seeing the point of what the count said.

"Very well, no dinner for a week and cleaning the stables for a month. With her being a lion demihuman, her sense of smell should be exemplary and much more sensitive than most. Her having to help clean the feces of hundreds of beasts and horses would certainly be a good enough punishment." Omar said and he could sense the girl stiffening while still pretending to be asleep. It was cute, really, that she thought she was tricking anyone.

The count saw this but he frowned as he spoke.

"This is still rather light. She tried to kill you, her lord and master, what you are proposing is too light a punishment."

"That is all I am willing to give right now." Omar said dismissively before he looked serious ahead. "She is just a kid, even younger than me now. She is too young and her parents aren't around, otherwise, they would have stopped her. She was forced into slavery and lost her home and parents, her lashing out is normal. Punishing her harshly for it is needlessly cruel and I won't do that, and that is the end of the conversation."

Hearing this count Wackenheim reluctantly nodded, simply agreeing with his lord, reluctantly.

"Very well, my lord."

Seeing his knight look slightly down Omar smiled and said.

"Now, now, why don't you tell me more of your family? Brian told me how you could not shut up about it and brag about it all, so why not tell me more about it?"

Wackenheim looks embarrassed before coughing in his hand, nodding to himself, and speaking up.

"Very well. If you insist, I suppose I could tell you a bit about my family, like my lovely Clara or my precious daughter Gladys. She is a genius, I tell you, and she is so adorable and-"

And, just like that, Omar learned to never ask a doting father to show off his daughter.

It was another hour before Omar finally escaped from the Count and his tales.

///---///

Back to the present

Ever since that day, this feral girl continued to get up and repeat the same actions, challenging him over and over again. She tried to tackle him the next two days, but, with the failures, she stopped trying and instead would just try to attack head-on, only for him to throw her the sword and they start fighting again.

"You overextended." Omar said as he avoided a strike and hit her hand with a chop.

"GRR, Don't lecture me!" She said as she swung her sword again, only for Omar to avoid it again and repeat what he did before... or try to.

The girl actually managed to avoid it this time around and smirked upon seeing that he failed to disarm her.

However, her smile was short-lived as he just avoided her next strike and got too close to her where her sword was no longer useful. Just used a simple palm strike and she fell down due to tiredness and the attack on her stomach making her fall down.

The girl huffed and stood up, glaring at Omar who just looked at her before speaking.

"You have a lot of talent, why not take the swordsmanship classes?"

"Don't want. Classes given, your pity. I... refuse." She said and Omar just raised a brow.

"Well, if you prefer to be weak that is with you. Just remember, if you refuse to cooperate and follow the instructions there will be no payment and some of the benefits of being my slave would be lost." Omar said and the girl just glared.

"I. Strong. I, survive and kill you."

"Well, good luck with that one." Omar said with a grin as he waved her goodbye and moved along.

The girl looking at his back and an animalistic growl escaped her lips as she still wanted to beat him up properly, even if only once.

She also felt that something was a bit wrong. Normally his dodges are better, but this time around it was as if he was lost in some times and could barely dodge her. However, the girl just shrugged it off in the end.

///---///

Having finished his workout routine and feeling a bit weary Omar went to a secluded area of the mansion.

It was a small garden he had prepared exclusively for his own use, it was a peaceful area that absolutely no one was allowed inside besides Omar himself. It was once his grandmother, the Melromark Queen's aunt, personal gardon, but it was abandoned after her death as Omar's own mother was completely uninterested in taking care of this garden and would much rather enjoy other, less ideal, types of pleasures. And, right in the middle of it, was a simple tree.

It was just four feet tall and looked very simple, it was not particularly pretty and didn't have much about it that could be seen as actually good as it looked just like a normal fruit tree. However, only a single fruit was on it.

It looked like a purple peach with several whirlpools on it.

It was the very first and, in Omar's opinion, the most important fruit he had to obtain as soon as possible.

Plucking it from the tree he smiled.

"The Giro Giro fruit, able to give its user the ability to see in all directions at least four hundred kilometers away perfectly, as well as read minds, transfer memories, and can also be used to attack. If even a weak woman with no particular training could become a commander of the Donquixote Family, then..." Omar muttered as he looked again and again at this fruit.

Honestly, it was tempting. Sure, he had a plan for another fruit for himself, but just the vision range it would give him and be able to see other people's thoughts and transfer memories was damn interesting for him.

Chuckling to himself he put the fruit away, knowing there were better fruits for himself and that he would need to find someone trustworthy enough to use this sort of fruit. And they should be trustworthy since a person with this fruit can read another's thoughts and read their minds, if this fruit falls in the wrong hands it would be a disaster.

Regardless, smiling widely Omar looked at the tree that no longer served any purpose. It would not be able to produce another devil fruit nor be able to birth any other fruit.

With a wave of his hand, he released his sky flame. He wasn't overly good with it, having focused his training for now in the Earth flame, but he was still able to burn this now useless tree into ashes.

With this done he put a hand in his pocket and took out a seed. Planting it in the same place the previous tree was at he carefully put the earth over it and spent some time watering it and putting fertilizer.

As he did so he felt in his mind how long this fruit would take to grow fully.

Two months.

It was more time than he wanted, but it was acceptable since this fruit's powers were truly cheat-like. It was, after all, the heal heal fruit, the fruit that allows one to heal anything.

With this Omar would be able to heal Nine of his injuries and give him back his fangs and tongue. In truth, Omar tried to test Nine's fighting skills, but he was completely abysmal and useless, no matter how much he tried to teach Nine he was useless in combat right now.

Only after he got his fangs and tongue back would he be of any use, and not only that, there are several of the recently bought slaves that also lacked a member or another. They were making do for now, but if it could be fixed then all the better.

Having planted his next devil fruit Omar smiled down at the first devil fruit he obtained that was on his hands. While he wouldn't eat it, he could use it on someone trustworthy later, perhaps the Mist or Desert guardians since this ability would work the best for surveillance and spying and, combined with illusion techniques, this would be a good combo.

Having made his decision Omar walks away from the garden, taking with him the devil fruit as well as a normal one he took from another tree as he felt slightly hungry.

///---///

Reaching his office, Omar sat down, looked at the egg he had taken, and noted that it wasn't showing any sign of growth. Some of the eggs he got all hatched already, but this one isn't showing any vitality even if it had such great potential, it was quite weird.

"Perhaps unique measures are needed?" Omar wondered before shaking his head, there was still time before he would take measures like searching for an expert out there.

Sighing he cracked his shoulders to release the stress before he looked down, ready to restart his work on the paperwork.

In all fairness, there wasn't much paperwork being produced right now, thanks to the deplorable state of the Dukedom. If in normal circumstances, Omar would only take at most half an hour to take care of the paperwork produced daily, but, even if it was only a trickle that was being produced, it was a trickle that hasn't been taken care of for a considerable amount of time.

Omar's father not once taking care of doing his job and running away from it as soon as possible instead, leaving his child of six to work nonstop for over a month now.

Having finished the fruit he brought to the office for a quick snack, Omar continued to work on the paperwork, fixing mistakes, signing necessary documents, and making notes in several areas for improvement. He even made several notes about several materials that they should buy as soon as possible and to send the marine captains to obtain them from Zeltobel.

As the city of merchants, mercenaries, and slavery that place was sure to house all sorts of curiosities and unique materials, besides, what Omar needed wasn't truly particularly unique items.

It truly was some simple materials since the more expensive ones were all in the treasury, what Omar actually needed were things like tungsten, platinum, and other such things. It wasn't anything all that great really, the only other thing would be to obtain DNA samples of all sorts of animals as well.

Omar wanted to build the Box Animals as well as start mass-producing flame rings. He had already learned how to unlock someone's flames by doing so with Nine. The werewolf wasn't even aware of it yet since he had no ring and Omar would not give someone a Vongola Ring so easily, but Omar already knew now how to unlock someone's flames and now all he needed were rings and box weapons to give his slaves the edge they needed.

When Brian came to see how his lord was doing he was surprised by what he saw.

His lord, Omar, was face down writing down in the last, finally the very last, of the document from the backlog.

Omar looked up, a smile on his face as he finally finished it.

"My lord, you worked hard." Brian said with emotion, having seen how much his lord worked to finally fix the bureaucracy disaster that was the Dukedom. With this, the functioning of the house would be much smoother and they now could fully focus on the bandit and economic issues.

A true step in the right direction.

"I did, yeah." Omar said as he suddenly felt his body heavy, his head hurting, and before he knew it.

Darkness and, in the distance, the worried yells of someone coming for him.

///---///

AN:

Someone asked me for a list of characters and where I got them from. Well, here it is:

- Chedale (hunter X hunter)

- Nine (Beware the Villainess)

- Astrid Flamel (Kuroinu 2)

- Kohaku (Kuroinu 2)

- Count Wackenheim (mentioned in Funbag Fantasy)

Besides that, what do you guys think of the chapter? Is it good?

Let's face it, Omar has been pushing himself a lot despite being just a kid. He has taken his 'infinite stamina' too far and his body couldn't handle the stress together with all he has been pushing himself through.

Don't worry, it is not deadly or anything.

Anyway, can anyone guess who this feral girl is?

Thanks for reading, please review and tell me your thoughts about the fic as well as ideas for guardians and DF for the MC. Right now I am thinking of the Hito Hito no Mi - mode Fair Oni (the type of creature that Benimaru became after Rimuru became a Demon Lord in Tensura). It looks similar to human, has amazing magic reserves, physical abilities, and come with a unique skill.

It would fit him quite well, after all.

But, I have not decided yet and am more than willing to listen to suggestions.